PHOENIX — Among the many remarkable aspects of the Nationals' season has been their ability to actually play better baseball on the road than at home. Indeed, this team has gone 38-21 away from South Capitol Street, the best record in the majors. That also includes wins in 11 of their last 12 road games and seven in a row.

So they'll look to make it eight straight (both on the road and overall) tonight in Game 2 of their series with the Diamondbacks. They will, however, face a legitimate challenge in this one, with Wade Miley on the hill. The left-hander has quietly put together a fantastic rookie season, earning an All-Star nod and putting himself perhaps in the driver's seat for NL Rookie of the Year honors.

One of Miley's chief competitors, Bryce Harper, won't face him tonight. Davey Johnson explained last night he wanted to give Tyler Moore a chance to start a game, especially against a lefty opponent. So Moore is in left field tonight, with Harper on the bench. That also bumps Michael Morse to right field and and Jayson Werth to center field, plus the leadoff spot. The last time Werth hit atop the Nats' lineup? the day before Davey Johnson took over as manager last June.

Thank you so much for talking about something other than you-kno-who and how many you-know-whats he will pitch. This should be interesting with Werth leading off, TyMo in left, EJax with Suzuki – is this the first game for them? Challenging pitcher on the mound.

Swami, i suggest you get ear plugs because every time I turn on TV or radio all I hear about is that subject. That being said..GYFNG.. Come on Edwin! Bats – keep the line moving around the bases! Would love to see some early runs off of Miley

MicheleS – I have a pretty quick trigger on the mute button. Can you even imagine how much worse it's going to get? Although- if that's what they are going to focus on, the rest of the team can fly under the radar. Sometimes I feel that other players are not getting the attention they deserve, but it's probably fine with them. Same with Bryce- let the spotlight be on Trout. It will give Bryce some space.

Danny batting second which might be a good spot for him if not for the league leading K's. Rough sophomore year for Espinosa … kind of frustratig rookie year for Harper and Lombardozzi. Only rookie T-Mo is hitting like he belongs.

Could we perhaps add to the "do not talk" list speculation about which Nat will or will not get a WS ring? Because there's a lot of baseball left to play, both regular season and post season. I'm just saying.Thank you so much for talking about something other than you-kno-who and how many you-know-whats he will pitch.Also glad that Dale Scott seems to have come out okay after taking that blow to the head.On a game note: Go, Edwin! Go, NATS BATS!!My (Verizon) MASN 2 also shows a 7 PM start time. It's happened before that they had the wrong start time there and didn't correct it. In such cases, I just make sure I bracket time slots after the back end of the *listed* broadcast period if I'm recording to watch later.Nongame note: Thanks to MicheleS for the heads up on the Papa John's pizza code. Had some for dinner at half-price. Nice.

I don't know, Peric – I kind of think Lombo is having a pretty good year. Playing much more than anyone thought, playing at his old position, leading off. Lots more experience than he probably hoped. I think he has handled himself well.

I was thinking about the Gio/Suzuki thing. Some pitchers are more dependent on their catcher than others, but if Suzuki is what Gio claims, he will improve every pitcher, and it won't matter if he ever gets a hit. He'll get rid of the "nibbling" that Davey hates because pitchers will be fearless. Fear–more than injury or exhaustion or heat–is the pitcher's enemy.

Was noticing still not many votes from the area for Roger, though he has a nice lead it should be more voters. 8 in Virginia (including me) and 6 in Maryland.Vote athttp://espn.go.com/mlb/baseballtonight

Now that you brought up Suzuki's name, NatsLady, it's good to see JFlo in the lineup.You must know more about this Suzuki cat than I do. He's hitting at Mendoza levels, and he's 0 for 7 in CS's.Wad's he got that our boy JFlo hasn't got? Don't think KSuk is as good as JFlo at balls in the diret, hitting, or toughness behind the plate.I'm willing to be enlightened, just don't quote Ladson on the matter!

"Fear–more than injury or exhaustion or heat–is the pitcher's enemy."Hear Hear! And fear leads to throwing more pitches, which lead to injury and exhaustion and make the heat seem worse. I always recall with pleasure some of those Greg Madux complete games when he threw very few pitches. Fearless.

Yeah, thanks. I do realize that it starts at 8:00 ET. As noted, I bracket a time slot after the *listed* broadcast slot in cases like this so that my recording won't end before the game does (which my awake state will most likely do). Just a little recording tip. :-)Zection 3, My Zofa said…My (Verizon) MASN 2 also shows a 7 PM start time.Sometimes, instead of running a delayed broadcast, they do an advance broadcast of the game an hour ahead, so they don't run so late on the East Coast.August 11, 2012 6:44 PM

Still reserving judgement on Suzuki. Not against him, just waiting to see. Small sample size. I don't like some of the turning on JFlo that I have heard. He might not be Pudge, but he sure got us this far.

I don't know if I can relate this to your experience. But, here goes. A few times I have been privileged to be accompanied by a master. Once at an audition, where I had not brought my own accompanist, the husband of the director was doing the job. I plunked down one of my favorite arias, one that I hardly ever used for auditions because it's in a difficult key and obscure language (Czech). I'd never met this guy before, but I gave it a shot because I really wanted the job. Within two measures, I knew it was a safe choice, and within four, I knew I could do whatever I wanted. Man, I went to town. Got into "character," bent the rhythm, whatever. It was a blast. (I got the job). Afterwards, I asked him, how did you know what I was going to do? I didn't even know what I was going to do until I did it. I thought he would say something snide like, Oh, all sopranos do that in that spot. But he didn't. He said, I was breathing with you.Since then, that's what I tell my piano students when I teach them how to accompany. You have to have all the technical skills, and then you have to breathe with the singer. So, your great catchers, then not only call a good game, block sliders in the dirt, etc. They know what will work for the pitcher on a given day, even in a particular at-bat. When Gio's curve wasn't working in Colorado, he needed help, but he didn't get it, at least not from the catcher. Gio is one of those who is very catcher-dependent. He doesn't shake off pitches because it interrupts his flow–he wants to focus on execution. So he'll pitch what the catcher calls for, but he'll be frustrated later.I think Davey, not being a pitcher, only had a sense of what it means, but not the actual experience. It's no coincidence that Gio went nine and was still mentally sharp enough to make that backup catch at third. He wasn't tired and he wasn't stressed. His catcher was breathing with him. I don't know if it only works for Gio, or if Suzuki can be that for other pitchers. Remains to be seen. But I have not forgotten Pudge's words, "It's not the catcher's job to hit."Best I can do.

Michele, not that I would condone vote tampering, but purely for research purposes, I checked, and toggling in and out of private browsing, in FF, Chrome, Safari, or Rockpile (probably IE, too, didn't try that) does seem to work.

Thanks for your very good efforts NatsLady. When interviewed on MLB a few weeks ago, before Suszki came to town, Gio was superlative in his praise for JFlo, I mean he really showed great appreciation of his efforts and further suggested the whole staff felt positive about JFlo. Gio and JFlo also hang out on the golf course together. Can't believe that JFlo doesn't call the same game that Gio wants called.Hence my confusion.

HEY MARK–Was that Harper's dad in the Harper jersey at the game last night (or was that the night before last?)? I thought MASN showed him coming out of the Nats locker room tunnel in the dugout just before the game, too.

JFlo probably does call a good game. And Gio's never going to destroy his relationship with his catcher, that's death. For a couple of years had an accompanist I praised to the sky, nourished her, etc., etc. I got her jobs, helped her with English and other life problems, you name it. She was a great pianist, a concert pianist. Eventually I broke with her and got a professional accompanist, nowhere near as skilled a pianist–but I instantly became a better singer, because that was her job, and she knew it and she was good at it.

The funny thing is, I didn't know until I got the second person that a good pianist is not the same as a good accompanist. I had had some pretty rotten accompanists before that, and just having someone who could play was a step up. I just didn't know there was another step up.

Not sure if anyone saw the article last year in Sports Illustrated about Chooch Ruiz (yea I know, the enemy). I can't find it on SI, but it was a full length article about him. And it was excellentThe important thing I took from the article is how he becomes the pitcher for each game. He gets into their frame of mind and tends to each pitchers needs. He is their best friend, brother, shrink, whatever they need for that game and how he totally supresses his needs for that of his pitcher.That is what I want out of my catcher. With our staff we need that for them. If the catcher can or cannot hit, I really don't care. The most important thing is the care, development, and feeding (ROSS) of our pitching staff. The staff is so young and they need someone behind the plate that they trust. Anything else we get out of them is just gravy.

MicheleS. Exactly. The second accompanist knew if I was tired, heck, she knew if my gown didn't fit correctly. She knew if I was nervous or confident or if I hadn't spent enough time in preparation. She knew if I lost my place in the music, and she knew how to get me back on track. I paid her a lot and it was worth it.

And you can say pitchers should not need to be "babied." You can say that until you have stood in front of thousands of people and realized you just dropped a measure or have a tickle in your throat or the director inserted a song you haven't sung in four years because it happened to be on your repertoire sheet.

Michele Virginia only had 9 votes today. So stuffing not successful. But then again I know we have plenty of readers and not many are bothering to vote as only 15 between Va and MD.Bot to late though.Whever is home ump in the Phillies Cards game and the Phillie announcers say he is almost as bad as Angel Hernandez. Obviosuly some of these guys are hated by people who want good umpiring.Final point Joe Torre worried so much about Cole Hamels crying, but will not take care of poor umpires. Seems to me he has his priorities in the wrong place.

Swami, just shows you how blessed the Nats are with the development of players. Oh and anyone wondering about the subject not to be named. Santana is getting SHELLED by the Barves 9-0 in the SECOND. the important word i used in my previous post is the CARE of our pitchers.

Did you hear Rizzo's interview? He talked repeatedly about our minor league players learning to play the nats way. The right way. So obvious that they are producing quality players. EJax 's turn to homer tonight?

Playing much more than anyone thought, playing at his old position, leading off. Lots more experience than he probably hoped. I think he has handled himself well.He's had some struggles swinging from the right-handed side which is why was initially platooned a lot and Davey moves him up and down in the batting order. Honestly, a rookie switch-hitter? I think its pretty normal. Its just frustrating for a new player I am sure.

Lombo! EJax up to his usual in the first. Hope he settles in quickly.first game I have been able to watch live since Tuesday . Glad to be back from the city of brotherly love . Caught up a little on the DVR before the game started.

Did you hear Rizzo's interview? He talked repeatedly about our minor league players learning to play the nats way. The right way. So obvious that they are producing quality players. EJax 's turn to homer tonight?Is there a recording somewhere? I'd like to listen, it sounds to me like he is getting ready for September call-ups and the AFL. Kind of wonder how much playing time the guys they bring up will get? In the past there really wasn't much to play for … last year they could do that … before that Riggleman claimed he had to respect the game and play the veterans or lose them or they didn't have any prospects to speak of yet. Now, they have a pennant race. A far better "excuse" and explanation … still I would like to see them. And Natslady? I'm not sure what you see in Werth but he seems unable to cover ground to make up for Tyler Moore's lack of left-field acumen. I'll take Corey Brown or Roger Bernadina. Really just about any young player over him.

So as they cut to commercial, Carp made a remark about the D-Backs turning a double play. My teenaged daughter, who is not into baseball, overhead and asks: "Whoa! Did he just say D-…?" Knowing where this is going, I interrupt before she can complete the guess and say: "D-BACKS. BACKS… short for Diamondbacks". She stared at the TV again for a moment, then said: "Huh… THAT's an unfortunate nickname…" and went back to not paying attention. I gotta admit, I think the same thing every time they say it…

Well, this is not going well so far. Welcome home to me Please don't send me back to Philadelphia. If the offense gears up there is still plenty of time – if EJax can settle down. Marquis' no hit bid ended in the beginning of the 7th. Not a bad guy – has had a rough time with his kid. Padres very rarely have anything to cheer about.

Jackson is exactly as advertised: a .500 pitcher who will take the ball every fifth day and eat a lot of innings. Next year, he will continue his journey to surpass Mike Morgan and Octavio Dotel's dubious record of pitching for the most teams in the majors.

I would love to know how our catchers rank hitting wise against other groups of catchers. Must be near the bottom of every category.We know they cannot throw anyone out.Only thing they have is best ERA (and that is a good thing).I am always chalk up an out when I see a catcher (except Leon) come to the plate.

Was commenting to a few I text with KFlo was worthless as didn't once go out to the mound to slow Ejax up. Others mentioned Espi too (as Desi would have), but neither did Zim or LaRoche, sso the whole team is laying an egg on defense tonight so far.Got to lift the pitcher when he is not spotting the ball well.I must be realy naive (hard for a techer), but I hav no clue what Moose and his daughter are talking about earlier in this thread.

Great post at 9:49 by Michele…Still too much football mentality…And that was an RBI hit by the catcher for those who "chalk up an out" when they come up..Does the Legion of Doom ever get tired of being wrong?

Thank you djinFL!!! Flores is a better player when he is used correctly, which is max 3 or 4 days a week as opposed to 6…Nobody knows how to figure out roles as well as Davey…He has always known the best way to use his guys

I think some of the anti-Jackson faction here ought to back off the gas a bit. True, the guy isn't Jesus or J-Zimm. But he's tough, gutsy, eats innings and has come through with strong performances on nights when our bullpen was shot. He's not the most consistent pitcher I've ever seen, but he takes the ball every fifth day and gives us a chance. Plus, he's a great athlete. I was at the two-hitter he tossed against Cincinnati in late April, and that was the best-pitched game any Nat has hurled this season. He's tough. If he were more consistent, he'd be Bob Gibson. But I'll take him as a No. 4 every day of the week.

I'm impressed with Werth there. 1) Who the heck gets that call? Yes, I know, no tag, but still.2) He kicked up his leg to avoid the tag?? One of the same legs that was too tired to play the other day? Seriously? Who does that?

EJax is the perfect guy for this staff…A durable, innings eating, young vet with playoff experience who throws gas…He wasn't brought here to be a #1…I'm sure the Nats are very pleased with what he's brought to the team

Werth just stood there and watched … looked like he had a shot. He wouldn't even go near the wall. Natslady I think you overestimate Jayson Werth the fielder. That wrist fracture took something out of Werth the fielder. I'm not sure you'll ever see him again. Nor will we see Werth the #5 hitter in the Phillies lineup.

Maybe not *perfect*, but he's fine for a number four. Pretty uneven tonight.It happens to them all. This is generally a pretty good hitting team, too. At least he is pretty level-headed. He and JZ can balance out the other guys who tend to be a bit emotional.

Werth wasn't afraid of the wall!…There's an overhang there and the ball just missed hitting it…If it had hit and caromed back towards the infield there was danger of an inside the park HR…He had no play on that ball, even if he had stood under the overhang….Watch the replay…

Werth wasn't afraid of the wall!…There's an overhang there and the ball just missed hitting it … He still looks awfully skittish to me … this isn't the first play and blaming it on the legs only goes so far … have to think Harper might have gotten to it.As for Gorzo look it up NJ he was considered the top guy, the Pirate's Strasburg (I know he's not that good but when you're the Pirates?). He was their best starter that year. I maintain that he could still be a better than most #4/#5 starter … his velocity doesn't hit 94 like it used to though.

Peric, respectfully disagree on Gorzo, if you are saying he was the best on the pirates, that is like saying Lannan was the best Nat in 08/09. Not much to hang the hat on. I think Gorzo has found his true role as the long man out of the pen. It suits him well.

For what it's worth, I do not want Jayson Werth faceplanting into the center field wall in the middle innings of a game in early-mid August. Bernie, OK. But not Werth. Werth is getting some tough plays, nothing hit right at him that isn't a line drive. I don't think he's had a can of corn all night. Tough luck that he gets the game the pitchers are giving up shots deep.

Look at what the opponents have to do just to be in a close game v. the Nats…Jump on their #4 starter early, withstand a 5 run inning, make a diving play to keep the lead at only 2, then rally late against the 3rd best lefty and 4th best righty in the bullpen…Do all that, and you're down 1…

SWM.. welcome aboard. plenty of room, no worries, we deal with the post football syndrome quite well, it may take awhile, but it's understandable. Afterall, no baseball in DC for 33 year and unless you followed another team, it can take some time…

OK, everyone take it easy onSWM – he just gets worked up too easily but loves the Nats. We just gotta help him away from the dark side sometimes. (Just like we gotta help mick away from the corona side!)Now, Ejax reminds me of playing golf with a friend with a very positive outlook: He duffs his drive on a par 5, maybe 120 yards. Looks up at me, and says "Well I was planning to hit a wedge for my third shot, but that will do." Dang if he doesn't make par. Eljax just hits his wedge first sometimes. Just let him finish the hole.

ANother day, another W, and another night of silence from the Legion of Doom…Michele and the Nats Express may be putting them out of business…By the way, Nats are now 18-5 since that "Season is Over" loss to the Braves…

Another series win. Down 4-1 (which is when I got home and tuned in, thank you very much) the Nats score 5 and go on to win by one run, with Clip cruising through an easy ninth, alleviating Fredi's concerns about our bullpen. He must be SO relieved (no pun intended). Barves must be trashing their hotel right about now.